Senior member of a team responsible for the Linux server infrastructure across the corporation. Server builds, deployments, gardening and support. Red Hat, VMware and enterprise software. If it runs Free software, our team manages it.

January 2012 - September 2013

Self-Employed

Contract work with high profile companies aiding them in community development and gardening, technical advice and support of LAMP stack issues and management of complex projects. Tasks include, but are not limited to: production system specification, procurement and roll-out, standardization of Linux system builds, Apache and MySQL deployment and tuning, system monitoring and increasing awareness and buy-in of their services by developer and end-user communities.

Support the Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution for the project's corporate sponsor. Handle support requests via Internet and phone initiated by the complete spectrum of individual end users to enterprise clients. Provide support to internal company colleagues. Liaise with colleague and community resources to develop and implement meaningful changes to the distribution. Manage and track bugs. Attend developer sprints and conferences. Provide training for external partners. Manage and maintain select internal IT infrastructure (e.g. VMware, Asterisk). Train and mentor junior staff. Participate in beta testing and QA of internal and external company projects. Assist and foster community volunteer teams, both Ubuntu and upstream.

Volunteer as part of the team managing the server resources for the GNOME open-source Unix GUI environment. Responsibilities on an ad hoc basis. Servers run various flavors of Unix, mostly RHEL and Ubuntu.

Serve as volunteer backup system administrator for a web hosting business. Monitor, maintain, and manage a co-located server running GNU/Linux, Apache2, CPanel, sshd, named and various other server daemons. Act as support liaison for customers resolving their issues and problems. Ensure mail services and customer sites (many of them high profile) are accessible and function within acceptable parameters.

November 2003-May 2006

Systems Administrator - Desktop/Network Engineer

Self-Employed

Provided clients with pre-sales recommendations, installation, and ongoing support of desktop, server, and network resources, both hardware and software.

Responsible for the day-to-day non-content operations of three high-profile websites (VersionTracker.com, MacFixIt.com and MacFixItForums.com). Maintained relations between the company, their users and developers. Worked to stabilize sites and userbase. Evangelized and implemented new services (e.g. RSS feeds). Managed the schedules, writing, and editing functions of the sites. Coordinated with the in-house production team on the layout of the sites. Ensured sites were active and available. Ensured the content teams were able to perform their work. Monitored the sites' performance, content and feedback to ensure maximum uptime, availability and quality. Managed the company build lists. Developed and oversaw the efforts of beta testers.

Responsible for all the end-user support of the Be Operating System and the Gobe Productive office productivity suite for users in the Americas, Australia and selected portions of Asia. Handled all support requests via e-mail, phone and various online fora. Developed methods for automated support request resolution, tracking of support requests and interaction with Be, Incorporated to ensure they provide coherent and correct information to end-users. Worked with the Gobe developers to identify known issues/bugs with the Productive package, and worked to resolve said issues via patches or fixes to future code. Also oversaw the support of all desktop and network devices within the Gobe Software offices, and worked to improve performance and usability of same.

March 1999-July 2000

Systems Administrator - Desktop/Network Engineer

Self-Employed

Provided clients with pre-sales recommendations, installation, and ongoing support of desktop, server, and network resources, both hardware and software.

One of two lead contracted staff to roll out Windows NT Workstation v4.0 to desktop clients at multiple North American BMS campuses. Analyzed and identified human resource, hardware, and software needs prior to rollout. Managed contract staff and budget. Compliance tested existing systems and services. Coordinated with departments for rollout scheduling. Rolled out new PCs. Converted IBM Type 1 Token Ring LAN circuits to 10/100BT Ethernet. Worked to engineer site-wide standard desktop builds. Managed team creating automated OS deployment and customizations. Worked with BMS permanent Client Liaisons to provide post-rollout support. Served as backup resource for BMS employee Unix administrators. Contract staff was also called upon to provide overall desktop and network support on an ad hoc basis.

Worked as a contracted team lead for local telecom provider. Oversaw daily operations of corporate data network and desktop clients at four locations with two other administrators. Total client base exceeded 5,000. Recommended, procured, and installed desktop computer hardware, software, and peripherals. Recommended, procured, and installed networking and Internetworking hardware and software. Supported network printer and storage resources. Provided and maintained connectivity to host systems. Solved simple break-fix issues and planned and coordinated long term projects and rollouts. Served as Unix specialist for group. Consistently among top-rated contractors in customer feedback.

Part of a team responsible for meeting the support needs of over 3,000 networked, Internetworked and non-networked computer clients within the Yale Medical School. Recommended, procured, and installed desktop computer hardware, software, and peripherals. Provisioned IP connectivity for Internetworking. Provided and maintained connectivity to campus host systems for dedicated administrative and financial systems. Supported network printing and storage solutions. Worked both as a general support resource for the entire Medical School as well as a dedicated support specialist for specific departments. Served as the departmental Unix and Macintosh expert. Worked with little or no supervision or external time management.

Oversaw the computer operations of a 100 employee research laboratory (the VSL had no MIS Manager during my tenure). Responsible for the selection, procurement, maintenance, upgrade and repair of over 200 desktop computers while working (during my regular undergraduate academic years) on a part-time basis. Rolled out a laboratory wide desktop hardware refresh under budget and ahead of schedule. Began implementation of a laboratory private LAN. Maintained relations with University's Computer Center and implemented a fiber optic connection to the campus data network, ARPAnet/Internet, and VAXcluster for the VSL and its campus plant. Managed graduate/undergraduate students and employees. Managed departmental budgets. Maintained vendor relations. Ensured educational/GSA pricing for all university and individual purchases.

Brought Apple Computer's Collegiate Partnership Program to Catholic University. Disseminated pre-sales information, recommended systems to individuals and provided technical expertise and support to users on an ad hoc (and pro bono) basis. Developed a thorough knowledge of Apple systems and software, attended technology and technical briefings sponsored by Apple and third-party developers, and was one of the few resources available to Apple administrators and users on campus.

Worked as an IT consultant for a number of corporate clients (e.g. CIGNA, Travelers Insurance, Sheraton/ITT). Worked for over one year at Advo Systems, a Windsor, CT based direct mail advertiser, developing an automated system to track client purchases of advertising space. Developed an automated reporting system based on a database back-end as well as a simplified end-user front-end. Also supported the Network Administrator supporting a 50+ user PC and host system network.

Oversaw the daily financial transactions (bank deposits, checks, receipts and payroll) as well as monthly bank reconciliations for a 100+ employee non-profit political action group. Reported directly to the Financial Manager. Selected, procured, customized, and trained others on the use of a PC-based financial and member record system.

Migrated the GISD Actuarial Unit from a mainframe-hosted rate development system in APL to a desktop solution in Lotus 1-2-3 for field office use. This included developing Lotus worksheets for existing actuarial rate tables, as well as automated macro-driven rate analysis worksheets.

April 1986-September 1986

Systems Consultant

Schwartz Parking Inc.
Hartford, CT

Worked with a team of consultants to integrate an automated gating and metering computer system with a proprietary facility-wide environment/security/plant engineering computer system. Worked with little or no supervision, developed cabling plans from architectural elevations, and worked with contractor to implement the cabling plant. Created software interfaces between facility and gating systems.

July 1983-January 1986

Assistant Store Manager

Shulman Record Company
Cinnaminson, NJ

Oversaw day-to-day operations of a retail music store under the supervision of the manager.

If you would like references, I shall be happy to provide them at your request. I have some scanned documents I can e-mail, as well as some live contacts. Let me know what you need.